1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to safety systems for coverings for architectural openings and more particularly to a system for confining lift cords used in retractable coverings for architectural openings so that they cannot form loops in which children or infants can catch a body part thereby causing injury.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Retractable coverings for architectural openings such as windows, doors, archways and the like, have become commonplace and assume numerous variations for both functional and aesthetic purposes. Such retractable coverings typically include a headrail, in which the working components for the covering are primarily confined, a bottom rail extending parallel to the headrail, and some form of shade material which might be fabric or other manipulative structure such as found in venetian blinds for example, interconnecting the headrail and bottom rail. The shade material is movable with the bottom rail between extended and retracted positions relative to the headrail. In other words, as the bottom rail is lowered or raised relative to the headrail, the fabric or other material is extended away from the headrail or retracted toward the headrail so it can be accumulated either adjacent to or within the headrail. Systems for operating such retractable coverings can assume various forms such as pull cords that hang from one or both ends of the headrail. The pull cords may assume a closed loop or hang linearly. In some instances, the covering is operated remotely with electronics and a motor mounted within the headrail avoiding the need for such pull cords.
Regardless of the mode of operating the covering to move it between extended and retracted positions, many coverings require lift cords extending from the headrail to the bottom rail, which are raised either by gathering the lift cords adjacent to the headrail or rolling the lift cords about a roller in the headrail. The bottom rail can thereby be raised gathering the fabric or other shade material between the headrail and the bottom rail or extended to allow the bottom rail to drop away from the headrail usually by gravity. Such lift cords, while usually being concealed or somewhat concealed or possibly even positioned behind the fabric, are exposed to children or infants and have created a nuisance and threat to the safety of the child or infant.
Until recently, most of the effort to render coverings for architectural openings childproof or safe have focused on the pull cords, which as mentioned above are suspended from the headrail either linearly or in a closed loop, as they are readily exposed to children and therefore sometimes define an attractive nuisance. Many systems have, therefore, been employed to render such pull cords as safe as possible. Those systems have included avoiding the use of closed loops which might easily be wrapped around a child or infant's body part or making tassels that interconnect a plurality of linear pull cords breakaway so that loops in the pull cords are not easily formed.
The possible exposure to child and infant harm inherent in lift cords for such coverings has been recently recognized as a child safety issue and, accordingly, the need for neutralizing such threats has become an issue for the industry.
It is to reduce and hopefully negate the possibility of lift cords causing harm to an infant or child that the present invention has been developed.